Myocardial ischemia is an important associated event in patients with hypertrophic cardimyopathy which may be accompanied by abnormal intramyocardial coronary arateries, coronary vasodilator reserve abnormalities, and abnormal myocardial perfusion scans (using Thallium-201). To examine the hypothesis that thrombogenic factors may contribute to ischemia in patients with typertrophic cardiomyopathy. intrinsic fibrolytic activity was measured at rest and compared to a large normal population. We found that fibrinolytic activity was impared in most patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and that abnormalities in fibrinolytic activity were not associated with frequency or severity of multiple paramenters of clinical disease. Long-term follow-up will be important to determine if these abnormalities in fibrinolytic activity are associated with a higher risk for intravascular trhombus formation which may result in ischemia, LV dysfunction, or sudden death.